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Michael Graham| InsideSources

Biden on climate change: We've 'waited too long'

President Biden signed executive actions tied to combating climate change, including elevating climate change as a national security concern.

Staff Video, USA TODAY

In 2016, Hillary Clinton made a gaffe that might have cost her the White House.

She said at an Ohio campaign stop, We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.

Months later, Clinton would lose Pennsylvania, Michiganand Wisconsin to Donald Trumpand gave Republicans the right to call themselves the party of the working class.

Biden turned those states blue again in 2020, as energy development took a back seat to the hyper-manic news coverage that we have all accepted as the new normal: Russia, COVID, riots, election fraud, impeachments, seditionand who knows what gets added to the list tomorrow?

But while Democrats are branding Biden as a return to the middle, he may be even more extreme on American energy development than either Clinton or his former boss, Barack Obama. In his first week in office, he killed the Keystone XL pipeline and thousands of energy-sector jobs along with it.

More: Inside look: What Houma-Thibodaux's largest industry groups are saying and doing about Biden's new oil restrictions

His energy czar, former Massachusetts John Kerry, was widely criticized for telling oil rig workers and energy-sector pipe fitters they can just get new jobs installing solar panels,a comment that to some seemed to echo Hillary's infamous gaffe.

Chewing over that moment in her book "What Happened,"Clinton said she was only trying to explain that Americas energy renaissance would render coal obsolete, not that she wanted to push coal miners out of a job.

"Changes in mining technology, competition from lower-sulfur Wyoming coal, and cheaper and cleaner natural gas and renewable energy, and a drop in the global demand for coal"would mean we just didnt need coal as much, she wrote. In her book, at least, Clinton seemed content to let the market evolve.

Obama took a few significant steps to slow coals roll. He imposed rules requiring coal plants to do more to filter toxic materials from wastewater. And at the very end of his last term, Obama imposed a three-year delay to new coal leases on federal land a significant move given that nearly half of all U.S.-produced coal comes from federally managed land.

Now Biden has doubled down, ordering a stop to oil and gas leasing on public lands and in public waters, including the Gulf of Mexico.

More: Joe Biden's oil restrictions: Right intent, wrong approach | Our Opinion

As a candidate, Biden promised no new oil and gas development on federal lands or federally controlled waters. Gone is the soft spot for Americas cleaner energy boom Biden said in his second debate with Trump that he would actively transition away from the oil industry altogether.

If Biden backs up those words with action, it might be much more noticeable than Obamas attempts to end the coal industry, an effort quickly reversed by Trump. Fossil fuels are still used to generate nearly two-thirds of Americas electricity, and the biggest source is natural gas. About a quarter of U.S. oil production comes from federal lands and waters. Ending new development could force the U.S. to scramble for supply at some point in the future.

Some companies have reacted to the threat by promising toreduce their emissions, perhaps as a way of bargaining for leniency with Biden. But either way, consumers could start feeling the pinch.

And its not clear Bidens team will be in the mood to bargain. He nominated Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., to be his secretary of the interior. Environmentalists have high hopes for Haaland, and while she has not been specific, it seems clear shes aiming to please them.

Ill be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land, Haaland tweeted after Biden announced he wants her on his team.

For the Environmental Protection Agency, Biden has chosen North Carolina's top regulator, Michael Regan. Heres how theWashington Postdescribed him:

Regan forged a multibillion-dollar settlement over cleanups of coal waste with Duke Energy, established an environmental justice advisory board, and reached across the political divide to work with the states Republican legislature. In another high-profile case, the state ordered the chemical company Chemours to virtually eliminate a group of man-made chemicals from seeping into the Cape Fear River.

Ironically, putting limits on oil and gas could end up helping coal, especially if Bidens actions make natural gas a little less competitive. But many believe coal is facing structural problems, such as decreased demand from China, that are beating down the industry as much as any regulation could.

Energy companies, at least, seem to notice the box canyon theyre entering with the Biden administration. In the last few weeks, they have been securing drilling permits that they hope will let them weather what promises to be a storm of new regulatory hurdles to energy development, backed by what may be the most liberal, environmentally-minded government America has ever seen.

-- Michael Graham is political editor at InsideSources. You can reach him atmichael@insidesources.com.

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Opinion: Is Biden repeating the Hillary gaffe on energy policy? - Houma Courier

Rush Limbaugh gestures after being given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by first lady Melania Trump. Moments earlier, in a surprise, President Donald Trump announced the award during his State of the Union address on Feb. 4, 2020.

Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

Rush Limbaugh, the self-proclaimed "Doctor of Democracy" who led the conservative media revolution by bashing "feminazis," "environmentalist wackos," "commie libs" and prominent Black people especially former President Barack Obama, died Wednesday. He was 70.

His wife announced his death on his radio show.

"I know that I am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today," Kathryn Limbaugh said. "I, like you, very much wish Rush was behind this golden microphone right now, welcoming you to another exceptional three hours of broadcasting. ... It is with profound sadness I must share with you directly that our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning due to complications from lung cancer."

Former President Donald Trump told Fox News on Wednesday he had spoken with Limbaugh three or four days earlier. "He was fighting to the very end," Trump said in his first public comments since he left office last month. "He is a legend. He really is."

Another former president, George W. Bush, also lamented Limbaugh's death. "While he was brash, at times controversial, and always opinionated, he spoke his mind as a voice for millions of Americans and approached each day with gusto," Bush said in a statement. "Rush Limbaugh was an indomitable spirit with a big heart, and he will be missed."

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden's "condolences go out to the family and friends."

A day after the deadly January riot by a Trumpist mob in a bid to overturn Democrat Biden's victory in the November election, Limbaugh likened the invaders of the U.S. Capitol to the Revolutionary War patriots.

"There's a lot of people calling for the end of violence," Limbaugh said on his radio program. "There's a lot of conservatives, social media, who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable. Regardless of the circumstances. I'm glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, the actual tea party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord didn't feel that way."

In December, he said conservative states were "trending toward secession."

As his cancer progressed, Limbaugh went off the air on Feb. 2, his mic was manned by substitutes starting one week before Trump's second impeachment trial began.

But there was no mistaking his viewpoint. "You didn't win this thing fair and square, and we are not just going to be docile like we've been in the past and go away and wait 'til the next the election," he told listeners six weeks after Biden won the election.

The acerbic radio host, who used satirical invective to attract and delight millions of fans and offend and enrage millions of others, announced in February 2020 he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. A day later, then-President Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a surprise announcement during the State of the Union speech.

"This is not good news," Trump said at the time, referring to the diagnosis. "But what is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country."

In October, Limbaugh told his listeners his condition was heading in the wrong direction.

"It's tough to realize that the days where I do not think I'm under a death sentence are over," Limbaugh said. "Now, we all are, is the point. We all know that we're going to die at some point, but when you have a terminal disease diagnosis that has a time frame to it, then that puts a different psychological and even physical awareness to it."

Days before Limbaugh's update, he hosted a "radio rally" for Trump,with audio of a crowd chanting, "We love you," and the president speaking for much of the two-hour event during his recovery from Covid-19.

Limbaugh was key to the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, which swept Rep. Newt Gingrich into the House speakership and ultimately led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

"Rush Limbaugh was the innovator who spoke for the Americans ignored and disrespected by the elites," Trump lawyer Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in a tweet after Limbaugh announced his cancer diagnosis.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born Jan. 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. His father and grandfather were lawyers. The grandfather was given the name Rush to honor a relative, Edna Rush.

Limbaugh began his broadcast career in 1971 as a 20-year-old Top 40 DJ in western Pennsylvania after dropping out of Southeast Missouri State University. Following a series of subsequent jobs, including five years with Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals, he eventually landed a talk show at KFBK in Sacramento, California, in 1984. He replaced Morton Downey Jr., who resigned after jokingly using a racist term about a city councilman of Chinese descent.

At the time, daytime talk radio was largely local. Four years later, in 1988, Limbaugh sprang to national prominence after he joined WABC-AM in New York, lured by network executive Edward F. McLaughlin. Within two years, more than 5 million people were listening to "The Rush Limbaugh Show" broadcast three hours a day, five days a week on nearly 300 stations, media critic Lewis Grossberger wrote in The New York Times Magazine in late 1990.

Rush Limbaugh in his radio studio in 1995.

Mark Peterson | Corbis | Getty Images

By the 20th anniversary of the show, he signed an eight-year, $400 million contract renewal with iHeartMedia's Premiere Radio Networks. At the time, the show was aired on nearly 600 local stations. In 2016, he signed a new contract for an undisclosed amount for "four more years," he announced on the air.

"His subject is politics. His stance: conservative. His persona: comic blowhard. His style: a schizoid spritz, bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian," Grossberg wrote in the 1990 Times magazine piece.

Limbaugh's shtick on what he termed his EIB (Excellence in Broadcasting) Network may have been satire to millions, but countless others considered him to be a misogynistic, racist hatemonger who helped fuel the nation's polarization into overdrive that paved the way for Trump's 2016 election victory.

Just before starting on WABC, he came up with "Rush's First 35 Undeniable Truths of Life." Topping the list was "The greatest threat to humanity lies in the nuclear arsenal of the USSR." At the bottom was "You should thank God for making you an American; and instead of feeling guilty about it, help spread our ideas worldwide." In between included: (#7) "There is only one way to get rid of nuclear weapons use them"; (#21) "Abortion is wrong"; (#25) "Evolution cannot explain Creation"; and (#31) "To more and more people, a victorious U.S. is a sinful U.S."

Here's a sampling of some other verbal cudgels Limbaugh wielded in his warfare against political correctness.

Undeniable Truth of Life #24, which he repeated numerous times over the years, bashed what he called "feminazis": "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."

While working as an ESPN commentator in 2003, he called Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb overrated and went on to say: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a Black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team." Limbaugh resigned from ESPN in the ensuing uproar.

In 2007 while discussing the antics of National Football League players' dancing in the end zone after a touchdown, Limbaugh referred to Los Angeles' notorious street gangs: "Let me put it to you this way. The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

In March 2018, he discussed a scientific study that warned about environmental dangers from Easter chocolates: "Now from an environmentalist wacko group at the University of Manchester in England warning everybody: Beware the chocolate Easter bunny, and those foil-wrapped chocolate eggs. Both could be 'bad for the environment,' warns a new study, which says that such confections can damage the environment."

Four days before Obama's first inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009, Limbaugh spoke about being asked to write 400 words on his hope for the Obama presidency. "I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, 'Well, I hope he succeeds.' ... OK, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: 'I hope he fails.'"

During the 2016 election campaign, Limbaugh took a swat at a proposal by Hillary Clinton to make public colleges free for children whose families earned less than $125,000 a year: "The first rule of adulthood is that there is no 'free' stuff. Somebody has to pay your commie-lib professors to spew all this anti-capitalist, anti-American BS that passes for education these days."

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020, he likened the outbreak to the common cold and blamed the media for fanning a panic. "This coronavirus? All of this panic is just not warranted," he said on the air. "They're not uncommon. Coronaviruses are respiratory cold and flu viruses. There is nothing about this except where it came from and the itinerant media panic. ... This is on the way to wiping out the U.S. economy, and it's going to be more than just Donald Trump and his reelection chances that get hurt if that's what happens here. ... Nothing like wiping out the entire U.S. economy with a biothreat from China, is there?"

Years before his cancer diagnosis, Limbaugh had other health issues. He had developed hearing problems and underwent Cochlear implant surgery in 2001. Two years later, he developed an addiction to prescription painkillers that he said he started using after botched surgery on his back. Limbaugh eventually was charged with shopping for doctors to prescribe medication for his addiction. He pleaded innocent and later entered a deal in which prosecutors dropped the charges in return for Limbaugh paying $30,000 to cover the cost of the investigation and undergoing therapy.

Limbaugh was married four times, most recently to Kathryn Rogers on June 5, 2010, with Elton John providing entertainment. The ceremony for Limbaugh's third marriage, to Marta Fitzgerald, a former aerobics instructor whom he met online, was performed on May 27, 1994, by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at Thomas' home in northern Virginia. They divorced 10 years later. His previous marriages also ended in divorce.

Limbaugh was actively involved in charitable works. His EIB Cure-a-thon raised about $50 million for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society over 26 years until the annual event ended in 2016, according to Andrea Greif, a spokeswoman for the organization. He also raised money for and served on the board of the Marine CorpsLaw Enforcement Foundation.

A cigar smoker, Limbaugh appeared on the cover of the magazine Cigar Aficionado in 1994. Five years before he announced he had lung cancer, he denied a connection between secondhand smoke and cancer.

"That is a myth. That has been disproven at the World Health Organization and the report was suppressed. There is no fatality whatsoever. There's no[t] even major sickness component associated with secondhand smoke. It may irritate you, and you may not like it, but it will not make you sick, and it will not kill you," he said on his show. "Firsthand smoke takes 50 years to kill people, if it does. Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it's true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots."

In his October 2020 update of his condition, he told listeners: "From the moment you get the diagnosis, there's a part of you every day, OK, that's it,life's over, you just don't know when. ... So, during theperiod of timeafter the diagnosis, you do what you can to prolong life, do what you can to prolong a happy life."

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Rush Limbaugh, the incendiary radio talk show host, dies at age 70 - CNBC

Memphis, TN, Feb. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Civil Rights Museum is hosting A Conversation with Ruby Bridges and Chelsea Clinton, a virtual dialogue between two education advocates and authors on the intersection of race, class, gender and generations. The one-hour virtual event on February 25 is a sharing of personal stories, struggle, Southern roots and congruent pathways that have brought them where they are today.

The program is an interracial, intergenerational conversation between two women whose childhoods were spent in the public eye. Freedom Award honoree Ruby Bridges and Chelsea Clinton talk about the mutual respect for the work each has done for education and equal rights. They discuss their lives, the importance of the Civil Rights Movement and its legacy as well as the significance of the National Civil Rights Museum.

Bridges and Clinton also commemorate the 60th anniversary of Bridges-Halls integration of William B. Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, LA on November 14, 1960. Before this conversation, the two had never met.

We are honored that we could host this powerful conversation between two education advocates, said Dr. Noelle Trent, the museums Director of Interpretation, Collections and Education. This unique conversation, presents both women in a stunning new light as they bring forth revelations about their lives and ongoing advocacy work.

Ruby Bridges-Hall became a civil rights activist at the age of six when she was the first African American to integrate a school in the South. In 1960, Bridges-Hall was escorted to her new school by federal marshals to protect her from the angry white mob that protested daily outside the school. White parents refused to let their children attend school as long as she was there, and white teachers refused to teach her, except one. For the entire year, Bridges-Hall was taught in a classroom alone. In midst of threats and scolding, Bridges-Hall was a little soldier according to the U.S marshals who protected her.

Still an activist, Bridges-Hall is the founder of the Ruby Bridges Foundation, promoting the values of tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences. Through education and inspiration, the foundation seeks to end racism and prejudice. The Museum honored Bridges-Hall as one of its 2015 Freedom Award recipients. She also received the Presidential Citizens Medal of Honor from President Clinton in 2011. Her book, Through My Eyes, won the Carter G. Woodson Book Award in 2000. President Obama invited Bridges-Hall to the White House to view the Norman Rockwell painting, The Problem We All Live With, which displayed outside the Oval Office in 2011. The artwork depicted her as a child being escorted by U.S. marshals to school. She donated a framed print to the National Civil Rights Museum in 2016 that is now in the museums Brown v. Board exhibition.

As vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, Chelsea Clinton works alongside the Foundations leadership and partners to help create economic opportunity, improve public health and inspire civic engagement and service across the United States and around the world. In particular, Clinton focuses on promoting early brain and language development through the Too Small to Fail initiative and empowering female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses around the world through initiatives like the Caribbean-focused Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network. She also serves on the boards of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

In addition to her Foundation work, Clinton also teaches at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health and has written several books for young readers, including the #1New York Times bestsellingShe Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the Worldin which she features Bridges-Hall. She is also the co-author ofThe Book of Gutsy WomenandGrandmas Gardenswith her mom Hillary Clinton.

The virtual event on Thursday, February 25, begins at 6:00pm Central. Made possible with the support of International Paper, the event is free, however registration is required for platform access. For information and to register, visit the museums website.

About the National Civil Rights Museum

The NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM, located at the historic Lorraine Motel where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, gives a comprehensive overview of the American Civil Rights Movement from slavery to the present. Since the Museum opened in 1991, millions of visitors from around the world have come, including more than 90,000 students annually. The Museum is steadfast in its mission to chronicle the American civil rights movement and tell the story of the ongoing struggle for human rights. It educates and serves as a catalyst to inspire action to create positive social change. A Smithsonian Affiliate and an internationally acclaimed cultural institution, the Museum is recognized as a 2019 National Medal Award recipient by the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS), the top national honor for museums and libraries. It is a TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Top 5% U.S. Museum, USA Today's Top 10 Best American Iconic Attractions; Top 10 Best Historical Spots in the U.S. by TLC's Family Travel; Must See by the Age of 15 by Budget Travel and Kids; Top 10 American Treasures by USA Today; and Best Memphis Attraction by The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Business Journal.

About Smithsonian Affiliations

Established in 1996, Smithsonian Affiliations is a national outreach program that develops long-term collaborative partnerships with museums and educational and cultural organizations to enrich communities with Smithsonian resources. The long-term goal of Smithsonian Affiliations is to facilitate a two-way relationship among the Affiliate organizations and the Smithsonian Institution to increase discovery and inspire lifelong learning in communities across America. More information about the Smithsonian Affiliations program and Affiliate activity is available at http://www.affiliations.si.edu.

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National Civil Rights Museum Hosts 'A Conversation with Ruby Bridges and Chelsea Clinton' - GlobeNewswire

When the news broke that Susan Bayh had died, several memories of her floated to the forefront.

Strangely, the most prominent one may have been the most trivial.

It was from 1992. She and her husband, Evan, were campaigning in Evansville as part of a bus tour with the newly anointed Democratic Party ticket.

Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore were traveling across Southern Indiana in the company of the Bayhs. It was one of those charged moments in American history, a time when the nation was poised to make a generational shift in power. Bill Clinton was about to become the first baby boomer president.

The presumption was that Al Gore likely would succeed him in the Oval Office. And Evan Bayh, who was just in his middle 30s then, already was being touted as a future presidential prospect.

The future shimmered like gold for the three seemingly charmed couples.

Id interviewed both Bill Clinton and Al Gore but was lingering to gather more color when Susan Bayh spotted me. She was walking with Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore. She motioned for the two of them to come with her so she could introduce us.

The four of us chatted for a few minutes.

As we talked, I thought about the way things were changing in this country.

And the ways things werent changing.

It became clear within the space of just a few minutes that these three women were at least as capable and, in fact, were probably more capable than their husbands.

Yet, they were the ones struggling to determine what roles they could play as their spouses strode destinys stage just how many of their gifts these women could reveal without offending a state and nation that both wanted and feared change.

Flash forward nearly three decades to now.

Hillary Clinton is a lightning rod for much of the terrifying animosity loose in this land.

Tipper and Al Gore live apart, their union a casualty of their high-profile and high-stress lives.

And Susan Bayh, sadly, tragically, is dead.

She was only 61.

In these hours just after her passing, I find myself thinking about the heavy toll we impose on those who step forward to lead us. Too often, we strip them of their humanity. We consider them caricatures, rather than people who breathe and bleed just like the rest of us.

Susan helped me realize that.

I did not know her as well as others did, but she and I had some substantive conversations when she was Indianas first lady. In one, she described what making big decisions did not just to leaders, but also to those close to them. The emotional costs imposed on the entire family, she said, could be overwhelming.

At the time we talked, Susan and her husband often were dismissed in Indiana political circles as animate versions of Barbie and Ken dolls. People focused more attention on the fact that she had been a beauty queen Miss Southern California, no less than on her sterling academic record at two top-flight schools, Berkeley for her undergraduate work and the University of Southern California for her law degree. Nor did they seem to notice that, despite her youth, she held her own with the finest legal minds in the country.

Physical attractiveness can be both blessing and curse. The sheer sunniness of Susan Bayhs appearance, the radiance of her smile, in some ways obscured the depths of her character.

In death, the tendency is to caricature people once again, to sweeten memories of them to help make grief more palatable. This is particularly true when the departed could be as charmingly affable as she could be.

But to do so denies Susan Bayhs immense strength.

The guess here is that she watched over those she loved her husband and her twin sons, especially with the ferocity of a warrior priestess. She nurtured those she cared about, but she also saw that they were protected.

Susan Bayh did it with a smile on her face because thats what people expected from someone who looked like her. She did so because she was smart, certainly wise enough to understand that much.

Her family says her passing leaves this world a darker place.

Yes, it does.

May she rest in peace.

John Krull is director of Franklin Colleges Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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KRULL COLUMN: Susan Bayh and the steel beneath the smile - Evening News and Tribune

RALEIGH In the winter of 1994, when First Lady Hillary Clintons plane became ice-bound in Washington, D.C., and she was unable to fly to Raleigh for her appearance as one of three keynote speaker for the ninth annual Emerging Issues Forum, university officials scrambled to find closed-circuit television technologies to turn her appearance into one of the states first-ever virtual conferences.

Something similar happened in 2010 when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was scheduled to speak about the creative visions for the future of North Carolina education, but was unable to physically attend the conference because of a Washington snowstorm. So he walked to his office, fired up an early virtual teleconferencing system and joined Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Manchester Craftsman Guilds Bill Strickland on the topic of crafting creative solutions.

Even in the earliest days of the internet and before Zoom became a ubiquitous platform, NCStates think-and-do institute has been charged with uncovering, considering and finding solutions for issues that will affect the lives of all North Carolinians, even if that requires technologies of the future to make sure it happens.

Next week, Feb. 15-18, IEI will host its 35th annual forum in Raleigh, four days of virtual meetings in the final installment of thewww.reconnectnc.orgseries.

What started in 1986 as a request by the late Chancellor Bruce Poulton to Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. to create an annual forum to address emerging issues has grown into alively nonpartisan institutewith a dozen and a half staffers, led since 2017 by Director Leslie Boney. Fittingly, the institute that was created in 2002 moved into the Hunt Library when it opened in 2012.

The idea for the forum and the institute that emerged from it was simple: to ask world and national leaders to consider issues identified by IEI that would face North Carolinians and to begin identifying solutions, from healthcare to biotechnology to education to the ongoing rural and urban divide.

I always wanted North Carolina to follow in its tradition of being first, says Hunt, a two-time NCState graduate and North Carolinas only four-term governor (1977-85, 1993-2001). I always wanted us to be on the cutting edge. I wanted us to spot the issues first and focus on what the cutting-edge ideas are that we need to know about, then begin to figure out how we could do something about them.

It was not a small undertaking. Initially, Hunt relied on his vast network of world and national leaders, making sure he had balanced voices participating. In 2005, when former Democratic President Bill Clinton spoke at Reynolds Coliseum, former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich also addressed the topic of Making Healthcare Work in North Carolina. The list of world thought leaders including former Presidents Clinton and Jimmy Carter, U.S. senators and representatives, cabinet members, business leaders and journalists is exactly what Hunts Facebook friends list would look like.

Its the kind of thing NCState ought to be about, Hunt says. NCState was created to involve the people and find practical ways of solving problems for the people of the state. We ought to be getting ideas out to the people, stimulating their ideas about those issues, and encouraging them to develop new and better approaches.

Some of that is done at a high level, general level. Some of its done locally. Theres always a need to spot the next issues. What has great potential to improve our lives? What do we need to learn about, and then what do we need to do about it?

First and foremost, IEI is about improving North Carolina. But its also about reaching out to the best minds on the planet to discuss the ways to make that happen.

We absolutely admit to having a North Carolina lens, Boney says. But we are agnostic about where a great idea comes from. It could come from another country. It could come from another state. It could come from a small town in eastern or western North Carolina.

We are idea enthusiasts. And so we try to collect ideas.

Hunt is the collector of idea-makers. As was always the case during his political career, few people could say no when he asked them to participate.

If youve ever been at the other end of a Jim Hunt conversation, it often concludes with a request, says Chancellor Randy Woodson. Whether its over the phone or in person, you can feel him grabbing your elbow, shaking your hand, gently pulling you forward, and then asking you the question Will you do this?

And everyone says the same thing, I couldnt say no to Gov. Hunt. Im so proud that NCState has been associated with the institute through the years. It has provided great leadership.

Everyone has that same bruise on their triceps, and Hunt almost always gets done what he wants.

Over the past few years, Hunt has stepped back and Asheville business leader Jack Cecil has stepped up as board chair. Boney was hired from the UNC System Office in 2017 to lead the institute and develop a different kind of outreach and engagement, turning the once-a-year forum into a twice-a-year traveling roadshow to include more communities across the state.

Boney has made some tweaks to the institutes charge and those changes have been the basis for the dozens of local and community initiatives represented in the Reconnect NC programs, showing how organic solutions can be scaled up for greater change. Topics were crowdsourced from engaged participants from across the state and ideas were shared at events in Asheville, Charlotte and Raleigh.

We started out with the idea that this was going to be a great chance for North Carolina to learn from the nation and the world, Boney says. Now, we are more likely to use the forum to learn from the nation, the world and our own communities.

Second, we have tried to ensure that we arent just sharing information at the forum and inspiring people and then going home. We want to do those things, then have them go find an organization in the state that can take an idea and do something with it, or find a way for the institute to move forward with that idea itself.

Third, the original idea was that the way change happens is top down, that someone hears an idea and passes a law. We hope that we are able to show that ideas can go from middle out. Change can be led by faith institutions in a community, local government, nonprofits or informal coalitions on a community level. More and more, we are paying a little bit more attention to the power of local communities to launch change.

In other words, even a forum dedicated to the idea of identifying emerging issues can find new ways to identify and discuss new and ongoing solutions.

Leslies leadership has really created this opportunity for more community engagement through community-based forums, really lifting them up across all the regions in our state, Woodson says.

1986: Innovation and Competition: The Challenge to America1987: Winning In The Global Economy1988: Taking Control of the Future. (featuring Bill Clinton)1989: Education For a Competitive Economy1990: Global Changes In The Environment: Our Common Future (featuring Carl Sagan)1991: Changes in Europe: Challenges for America (featuring Jimmy Carter)1992: Priorities for Americas Future1993: Strengthening America: New Economic Strategies1994: Investing in Health: An American Agenda. (featuring Hillary Clinton)1995: Conflict, Competition, Cooperation: Power Politics in a Changing World. (featuring Ambassador Madeleine Albright)1996: The Knowledge Explosion: What the Payoff for Americans?1997: Economic Forces: Shaping the Next Half-Century1998: People and Planet: A Fragile Partnership1999: Global Economic Storms (featuring Al Gore)2000: Shaping our Common Future2001: First in America: Charting the Course for Excellent Schools2002: Biotechnology and Humanity at the Crossroads of a New Era2003: Jump Starting Innovation: Government, Universities & Entrepreneurs2004: Creative Responses for Global Economic Change2005: My Health Is Your Business: Making Healthcare Work in North Carolina (featuring Bill Clinton)2006: Financing the Future (featuring Steve Forbes)2007: Transforming Higher Education: A Competitive Advantage for North Carolina (featuring U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings)2008: North Carolinas Energy Futures: Realizing a State of Opportunity (featuring Jeffrey Immelt)2009: Changing Landscapes: Building the Good Growth State? (featuring David Brooks)2010: Creativity, iNC (featuring U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan)2011: An Idea Exchange for Healthcare (featuring Indra Nooyi)2012: Investing in Generation Z2013: @Manufacturing Works2014: Teachers and the Great Economic Debate2015: Innovation Reconstructed2016: FutureWork2017 Focus Forum: Kidonomics: The Economics of Early Childhood Investment2018: Kidonomics: Investing Early in Our Future.

Fall 2018: Reconnect to Community (featuring David Brooks) | Asheville, NCSpring 2019: Reconnect to Rural and Urban | Raleigh, NCFall 2019: Reconnect to Economic Opportunity | Charlotte, NCSpring 2020: Reconnect to Technological Opportunity | Raleigh, NCFall 2020: Reconnect to Well-Being | via webinarSpring 2021: Reconnect for the Future | via webinar

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As Emerging Issues Forum goes virtual, a look back at its history of dealing with hot issues - WRAL Tech Wire